** PLEASE NOTE: There will be no updates from me for the next 2 weeks,
and will resume gradually from Monday 13 March.
- Italy Orders, UK BBA Mortgage Approvals, Canada CPI and US New Home Sales
all unlikely to unseat politics and month end considerations as primary
drivers; BanColombia likely to hold rates
- ECB hawks pushing back on taper talk well worth noting, as Mnuchin
raises questions about Trump-flation trade
- Charts: Copper, Iron Ore, Aluminium, WTI Crude
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** EVENTS PREVIEW **
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If the more 'macro' minded traders and investors are hoping for some salvation from the drum beat of political influences, then today's schedule of data and events will surely disappoint. Another array of national confidence surveys in Europe will be accompanied by Italian Industrial Orders, UK BBA Mortgage Approvals, Canadian CPI and US New Home Sales. Otherwise Colombia's central banks is seen holding rates again at 7.50%, given that it is likely to have been disappointed by the uptick in core CPI to 5.26% y/y in January, and all the more so given that end 2017 CPI consensus forecasts look for a 4.8% y/y, still well above BanColombia's 2.0-4.0% target range. On the political fall-out front, yesterday's follow through relief rally in French OATs on the Macron/Bayrou 'alliance' probably owed more to the broader rally in govt bonds as month end comes into focus, and as the Trump reflation trade saw some push back. It may also have owed something to comments from two of the ECB's arch hawks, Weidmann and Hansson, who unusually both pushed back very hard on the chances of the ECB tapering, with Mr Weidmann also suggesting that an initial ECB rate hike in 2019 was a reasonable expectation. Whether one attributes this level of moderation on the policy outlook to the array of political risks, or to concerns about the economic outlook, it does underline the point that the ECB really would like to sit this year out in policy terms, if it can. The Trump reflation trade push back also owed much to the comments from Treasury Secretary Mnuchin on timelines for corporate tax changes (sometime in August), and fiscal stimulus (not before 2018). Perhaps more interesting than the bond market reaction were the falls in industrial metals, above all Copper and Iron Ore, which have looked overheated relative to actual commercial activity demand for a considerable period - see attached charts.
from Marc Ostwald